Track Storms from Around the Nation at Home Down to Street Level With the Interactive Radar.

The above photo is that of a water rescue in Natchez, MS from the Natchez Democrat. These two kids decided to go for a swim in the high water. The current whisked them away only to be rescued by three men who just happened to be in the area. Can you say lucky? Here are more photos from a gallery courtesy of the Natchez Democrat. It includes a cute picture of an otter that came into someone’s yard with the high water.

We Busted, Maybe: When I lived in the South, I often got accused of seeming disappointed when a hurricane turned away from our location. We’ve had two nights of pretty good storms and I”m not disappointed that we missed out this time. A complex of storms was to our northeast and another to our southwest. We were in between. We got to near 90 but the complex to the northeast helped draw down dry air close to the area, effective cutting off any storms from that direction. Late in the evening, the jet streak that we’d been looking for swept around and produced a line of mild thunderstorms From St. Louis to Springfield. As it moves around, it will help did the upper trof down our way. Theres a fair chance that we get some storms or rain on Saturday night and early Sunday morning, I just don’t think the prospects for anything too exciting is all that great. But, it’s worth watching as some of the cells have developed rather quickly as the line extended toward Terre Haute by 1 AM. That would be a result of the speed max rounding through the jet. If you saw at 11 pm I outlined the possibility. The SPC issued an MCD on it. The map is below along with the link to the discussion. They kinda talk out of both sides of their mouth as on the one hand, they say no watches are anticipated but the first thing they say is that damaging winds and hail are possible.

Well, either the BBC has no clout or the Associated Press is tardy with their reporting. In any event, here is the AP’s version of the deniabilty that we are about to be absorbed into a man-made black hole, thus ending the global warming debate and leaving us to wonder who will win the election.

On This Date in History: When things went well for actor/director Fatty Arbuckle, they went bad. He was a big star. So, big that he signed a 3 year contract with Warner Brothers for a million dollars in 1921. Really huge money in those days. When he signed the deal, he had a party. At that party, a young starlet was found drunk and bleeding in Arbuckle’s room. He was accused of rape and murder after the woman died of a punctured bladder 3 days later. It was Hollywood’s big scandals and William Randolph Hearst made it into a media circus. Hearst didn’t care about the facts, he was in the business of selling papers and he made it into one of the first trials “of the century.” He is quoted as saying that the scandal “sold more newspapers than any event since the sinking of the Lusitania.”

The judge found no evidence of rape but determined that Arbuckle could be tried for manslaughter. In fact, the whole case isn’t nearly as cut and dried as I had been led to believe. There are numerous instances of bribes by the prosecutor, false testimony and doctored evidence. Twice juries were hung 10-2 in favor of Arbuckle. The third trial ended in acquittal but, the prosecutor and newspapers tried Arbuckle in public with wild, unsubstantiated salacious charges and false accusations. The main witness wasn’t allowed to testify because she was so unreliable. During the 3rd trial she didn’t even show up as she had been found to be planning to extort money from Arbuckle from the night of the party and besides that, she was too busy on the lecture circuit spreading her tales. They were inadmissible and unfounded in court but good enough for the stage.

Though acquitted, Arbuckle’s movies were banned in the US for something that he may not have even done. On June 29, 1933 he was signed by Warner Brothers to make a feature length film. Perhaps it was too much for the not-so-slender Fatty. That night he had a heart attack and died.

Maybe he would have been better off not signing contracts with the Warner Brothers.